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Captain Marvel Recap: The Complete History of the MCU

With the imminent release of Brie Larson’s first big screen outing as the titular Captain Marvel we take a look back at all of the previous MCU movies to date. This film will act as an origins story to help bring the character kicking and screaming into the MCU just in time for Aprils Infinity War part two, Avengers: Endgame. If you have never seen a film in this one of a kind series, or simply want a catch-up, or even can’t be bothered here is our version of TheComplete History of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Phase One

Iron Man (2008)

Enter billionaire, playboy philanthropist, industrialist and inventor Tony Stark. After being captured he realises his company is to blame for the supply of weapons to terrorists. To right his wrongs he builds an even bigger and better weapon. Robert Downey Jr’s career was saved.

Throw in Samuel L. Jackson for a cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury just in case the film does well and we have the beginnings of the MCU.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Ill-tempered, always angry and nobody likes him but that’s enough about Edward Norton. We see Bruce Banner hiding away from everything and anything that could cause the big green guy to come out and play. Ironically the villain in this offering was called The Abomination, which is a good summary.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

After announcing to the world that he is in fact the Iron Man Tony finds newfound fame but as they say with great power comes great responsibility. His relationship with Pepper Potts becoming strained as we see Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) join the universe. A new enemy threat is on the horizon just as Stark begins to lose it leading to best friend Rhodey stealing one of the prototype Iron Man suit. The film signs off with a lost and found scene of a hammer.

Thor (2011)

Handsome, God of Thunder, with locks of hair straight from heaven. This first outing sees our titular hero stripped of his powers and stuck on Earth with Natalie Portman in a mischievous move by his half brother Loki. Thor then gets to finding his beloved hammer, Mjolnir, and regain his powers. We meet a strange glowing cube and Fury cameos to tempt once more.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Step back in time to WWII as scrawny Steve Rodgers undergoes an experiment to become the worlds first super soldier and get all the ladies. He finally proves his worth by saving his entire battalion, including bestie Bucky before fighting off Red Skull to save the world. Sadly this one ends with Cap being frozen after crashing into the North Pole looking for Santa. We learn that the strange cube has been here for a long time.

The Avengers (2012)

With our four main superheroes introduced we get our first cross-over movie. Loki is sent to steal the Tesseract (that strange cube) from S.H.I.E.L.D by a big bad blue dude and reluctantly the Avengers are born. With a standout performance by Mark Ruffalo as the big green angry one, we have to ask what happened to Ed? New York takes a pasting in the process.

Phase Two
Iron Man 3 (2013)

Iron Man hits his trilogy milestone early doors while not being Iron Man much and fighting an orange that isn’t really an orange. Rhodey rebrands his stolen suit as Iron Patriot while Stark uses his arsenal of suits to save Pepper from the guy who was in Memento.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Top tip – just watch this with the sound off, it’s not that good but Chris Hemsworth is dreamy. We see one of the Infinity Stones in the hands of the collector, not just a clever name, while Loki is being a shit as usual.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

After defrosting Cap is slowly adjusting to modern life by watching an injured Fury ‘die’ wink, wink. He’s then fingered by S.H.I.E.L.D. which we learn stands for we HYDRA before facing off against his best bud Bucky now known as the Winter Soldier. Cap becomes besties with another man, Falcon.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

No one really cared for this bunch of reprobates until we saw the movie. It added another group of unlikely heroes into the fold featuring the gorgeous Bradley Cooper as a space panda. Their mission is to retrieve an orb which turns out to be another Infinity Stone. Gamora and Nebula reveal that they are the daughters of Thanos.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

The team are back for their second cross-over movie that wasn’t all that good. Starks AI J.A.R.V.I.S is seemingly killed off by some Skynet mother known as Ultron who creates a real-life body, think of T2. Gollum steals some of the good stuff from a mysterious land called Wakanda. The film ends with Vision being born housing an Infinity Stone in his head and the Hulk jetting off on his holidays after the pressures of going serious with Black Widow.

Ant-Man (2015)

We all love Paul Rudd even if he was in prison. His character Scott Lang is tricked into becoming the next Ant-Man by Micheal Douglas as did many a woman in the ’80s. His special suit allows him to shrink to the size of an ant as he stumbles upon the Quantum Realm.

Phase ThreeCaptain America: Civil War (2016)

Some of the Avengers have a falling out after a discussion about which is the best video game console, oh and Ant-Man this time gets really big. Black Panther is introduced and Sony finally allows Spider-Man to appear in the MCU. Both Thor and Banner couldn’t be bothered to help out.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Earth now has wizards as magic is added to the MCU with Mr Strange, sorry Dr. The guy out of Death Stranding and one of the James Bond films is the baddie in this film. Dr. Strange has one of the Infinity Stones in his necklace and agrees to help find Loki.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The reprobates are back and even more dumbed down than before. Groot died saving the Guardians in the first one, thankfully Baby Groot (yes not the same guy) kicks this adventure off by dancing to Mr Blue Sky. Star-Lord finds his dad but also finds out that he killed his mum. Nebula runs off to kill her adopted father Thanos, all in all, there’s a lot of dad issues in this one. Starring Mary Poppins, y’all.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

A fitting title for the first solo movie from Spider-Man that we can class as canon. We learn that Tom Holland cannot be trusted on social media and that this film seriously messes with the whole timeline continuity but all is forgiven because of Michael Keeton. Iron Man doesn’t impose and Aunt May got hot.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

I don’t know what the director was smoking when he made this film but it’s a vast improvement on the God of Sparkles previous outings. It takes a lighthearted direction because that’s what heroes do. Hulk returns and starts a new film within a film story arc with Goldblum killing it as the Grandmaster. TLDR, Thor and Loki get their asses kicked by their sister, Mjolnir breaks and Stan Lee cuts Thor’s hair. Korg and Miek are simply the best.

Black Panther (2018)

In a bold move for the studio, Marvel celebrates some of the finest black actors of our generation with this feature all about the king of Wakanda. The throne is under threat from Johnny Storm, of the not so Fantastic Four, and the Black Panther must fight for survival in a CGI heavy anti-climax. Starring Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Thanos finally arrives, looking shockingly like a purple Fred Durst (we thought he was supposed to be blue), and starts to round up the six infinity stones needed to complete his new bracelet. Thor also gets a new weapon made by a giant dwarf, with no hands, before whizzing back to Earth for a fight when really he should have gone directly to Titan to beat Thanos before he clicked his bloody fingers breaking young boys hearts around the globe.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Our tiny hero is back with his female friend in between playing the father figure. An urgent mission convinces him to dust off his suit once more and face a new villain. The film finishes with Lang becoming lost in the Quantum Realm which, to be honest, is the better option seeing what else is going on.

So there you have it, our take on the events of the MCU to date and ready for the next phase of movies. Popcorn at the ready!